Upset Hills: Warriors rally past Oilers

The Chippewa Hills baseball team has found a winning formula this past week.

It’s just not the type of winning formula you would expect.

After rallying to win a regional title last Saturday against Cheboygan after being no-hit through five innings, the Warriors (27-7) turned around and did exactly the same thing Tuesday.

Trailing fourth-ranked Mt. Pleasant 5-0 through five innings of Tuesday’s Division 2 quarterfinal at Theunissen Stadium and without a hit, the Warriors rallied to break up Aaron Leasher’s no-hit bid in the sixth and stunned the Oilers with a five-run inning in the bottom of the seventh to secure a 6-5 upset victory.

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“Well we got no-hit through five by Cheboygan so maybe we’re just a late-inning team,” said Chippewa Hills head coach Ben Wright. “It makes it very exciting though. I’m so proud of our community support and this crowd. It’s just unbelievable how everything has come together his year. I’m just excited to be a part of it.”

The quarterfinal win sets up a semifinal matchup with defending state champion Grand Rapids Christian in Battle Creek on Friday. The Eagles defeated Haslett 7-1 in another quarterfinal at Davenport University.

Leasher was absolutely untouchable Tuesday through five innings. The junior had fanned six Warriors batters and walked just one.

After issuing a walk to Shane Travis to open the bottom of the sixth, Leasher gave up a single to Hunter Conley.

The Warriors then cracked the scoreboard when a sacrifice bunt by Ty Schafer was mishandled at first base, allowing Trevor Purdy, who was pinch running for Travis, to score.

Mt. Pleasant managed to escape the inning though without any further damage though.

The came the bottom of the seventh.

After giving up a lead-off single to the eventual hero of the game Tyler Kelsey, Leasher walked Devin Esch to put a pair of runners on with no outs.

Leasher was then lifted in favor of senior Daniel Pulver. Leasher surrendered just the two hits and three walks while striking out seven in six innings.

Pulver struggled to find his command though, walking Bren Martin, the first batter he faced before striking out Travis. With the bases loaded and one out, Conley stepped to the plate and drilled a three-run double to the gap between left and center field to score Kelsey, Esch and Martin and bring the Warriors within one run at 5-4.

An error by the shortstop on a sacrifice bunt kept the rally going as Pulver was pulled for Cory Williams.

Williams was able to get starter Jake Tarbell to pop up to get the second out of the inning.

Just when it looked like the Oilers were going to escape with the win, the Warriors pulled a fast one on Mt. Pleasant.

Schafer, who reached earlier on the error at short, attempted to steal second. As the Oilers attempted to get Schafer caught in the rundown, Conley raced home from third for the tying run.

Williams then walked the next batter Andrew Haynes to load the bases again.

Kelsey promptly connected on his second single on the day, sending a deep ball over the center fielders head and sending Schafer home for the winning run.

“That was a huge play to get the tying run home but everything before that play put us in position,” Wright said. “It was really unbelievable.

Tarbell wasn’t overly impressive on the mound but found a way to minimize the damage and secure the win.

“Jake gave up eight hits against Whitehall as well but he’s just pitching extremely well. Yeah, he doesn’t have a lot of strikeouts but that’s not the way he pitches. He minimizes stuff, he gets out of innings, he throws good pitches and Mt. Pleasant crushed the ball and they really hit the ball well. But we dodged a bullet and we beat them. The whole defense played well too. We made one mistake but we didn’t hang our head and we didn’t fold.”

Tarbell gave up the five runs on 10 hits and three walks while fanning two in a complete-game performance.

Conley and Kelsey were the only two Warriors with hits, with Kesley connecting on a pair of singles and Conley with a single and a double.

The Oilers (28-9) made uncharacteristic errors and had troubles late on the mound.

“You’ve got to hand it to Chippewa Hills. They took advantage of our all of a sudden wildness and all of a sudden we couldn’t pick up the ball,” said Mt. Pleasant head coach Luke Epple. We had been playing great defense and we started the game like that but then all of a sudden at the end, we didn’t. I wish Chippewa Hills all the luck in the world and that’s going to be very good for their program and they’ve got a little momentum going for them.”

Mt. Pleasant had grabbed an early 2-0 lead through four and tacked on three more runs in the top of fifth thanks to in part to an error in right field.

“We made some mistakes today though that we normally make and that’s what cost us,” Epple said.

Williams led the Oilers at the plate with three singles, while Dean Marais had a single and a double.

Chippewa Hills will now pack its bags for Battle Creek, a first-ever trip for the Warriors since the state finals location was moved to Bailey Park.

“I don’t know if these kids know what it means yet. I think it’s just setting in,” Wright said. “Wednesday we’ll definitely make sure that they understand that it is a business trip and that we are there to win and we’re there to play well and we’ll see what we can do.”

First pitch for Friday’s semifinal is set for 1 p.m. at Nichols Field at Bailey Park.

Joe Buczek is a sports a writer at the Morning Sun. You can reach him at jbuczek@michigannewspapers.com

About the Author

Joe Buczek is the Alma College beat writer and prep sports writer covering the occasional CMU event at the Morning Sun. He is a broadcast and cinematic arts graduate of Central Michigan University. Reach the author at jbuczek@michigannewspapers.com
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